A new report from Immunefi, the Web3 security and bug bounty platform, showed that the crypto market lost an estimated $3.9 billion in 2022.
According to the report, hackers were the main culprits behind the losses, accounting for 95.6% of the total. Fraud and scams took the remaining 4.4%. Additionally, decentralized finance (DeFi) saw the biggest losses of 80.5%, while centralized finance suffered 19.5%. The report states:
“DeFi has suffered $3,180,023,103 in total losses in 2022, across 155 incidents. This number represents an increase of 56.2% compared to 2021, when DeFi lost $2,036,015,896 in 107 incidents.”
In the fourth quarter of 2022, BNB overtook Ethereum to become the most targeted chain. The industry suffered around $1.6 billion in losses, with DeFi taking the biggest hit at $57.6 million and CeFi making up the rest with $42.4 million.
Mitchell Amador, CEO of Immunefi, commented:
“By proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, we can protect the community from harm and build trust in the field. As we make the industry safer, everything else can thrive.”
Related: Macro Data points to growing pains for crypto investors by 2023
On Jan. 5, Cointelegraph reported that according to CertiK (an on-chain monitoring and bug bounty firm), DeFi exploits were the least in December 2022, with approximately $62 million in funds stolen from decentralized finance protocols. While this is lower than previous months, cybersecurity experts have warned that the ecosystem won’t necessarily see a decrease in exploits, flash loans, and exit scams in 2023.
